Capt seeks best treatment for gangrape victim

While condemning the brutal gangrape of a minor girl in Shahkot, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday asked the state government to save precious life of the young girl by providing her best treatment in the country or abroad.

While condemning the brutal gangrape of a minor girl in Shahkot, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday asked the state government to save precious life of the young girl by providing her best treatment in the country or abroad.

Amarinder, meanwhile, termed the SAD-BJP government’s decision to pardon rapists convicted and sentenced in 12 cases as “encouragement” to anti-social elements involved in crime against women and reiterated that "Punjab is completely unsafe for women".

He sought best treatment for the girl who has suffered brutal injuries which resulted in removal of her uterus. "She will not be able to become mother. The government must ensure that precious life of this young girl (14) is saved and she is provided with best possible treatment in the country or abroad," Amarinder told Hindustan Times over phone.

He said that the government must not wriggle out of the responsibility by merely saying that it would bear the cost of the treatment. "It must also ensure that the treatment is the best and no matter how much it costs the government," he asserted, adding that the way the Delhi government sent the Delhi rape victim to Singapore for super-specialised treatment, the state government must also ensure the best treatment for the young girl.

He said that more shocking was the fact none of the accused had been arrested till date. "This reflects the state of affairs as how casually the police have taken such a serious offence," he remarked, adding that nearly 40 rape incidents were being reported every month in Punjab while number of “unreported” incidents could be manifold.

Assailing the government over its alleged casual attitude towards the rape incidents, he said that 12 rapists convicted and sentenced by various courts were pardoned during last year. Women were completely unsafe in the state, he reiterated.

"This for sure cannot be described to be the safest state in the country as this government will try to make us believe," he remarked, while having a dig at the deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal’s claims that Punjab was the safest state in the country.

"As large scale incidents of chain and purse snatching was more than enough to force the womenfolk to contain their movement on the state roads during Badals previous regime, the rise in rape cases had taken alarming proportions in their current tenure," he said.

He alleged that the police force had been made a tool for Akali MLAs and jathedars by redefining jurisdiction of police stations and police sub-divisions assembly constituency wise.